Steam-turbine engine



w. H. BELKNA P. v STEAM TURBINE'ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8. IQIIQ.

1,378,396. Patented May 17; 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

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w. H. BELKNAP.

STEAM TURBINE ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 191 9.

1,378,396. I Patented y 12,1921.

Q 3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

w. H. BELKNAP. STEAM TURBINE-ENGINE.- APPLIC AT|0N FILED NOV. 8, I919- Patnted May 17, 1

7 WILLIAM H; Berliner,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., Assrsnon. or ONE-FOURTH 3. new, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

'ro THOMAS srnAM-rURBTivE ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

Patented May17, 1921.

I Application filed November 8, 1919. Serial No. 336,568.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, 'WILLIAM H. BEL- KNAP, acitizenof the United States, and residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invent ed certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Turbine liln'gines, of which the following is a specification, such as will "enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to turbine engines and particularly to engines of this class designed to. be used for marine purposes and to be operated by steam under pressure; and the Object of the invention is to provide an engine of the class specified which will op erate as a multiple expansion engine, which involves an improved cylinder, cylinder liner and rotorconstruction; a further object being to provide a valve construction for engines of this class which in connection' with the cylinder construction operates to produce a reversible engine; and

with these and other objects in view the invention consists. in a turbine engine of the class specified whichis simple in construction andoperation and. efficient in use- The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of-which the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is'a plan and sectional view of an engine made according to my invention and showing three cylinders;

Fig. 2 a side view looking in the di .rection'of the arrow'2 of Fig. 1;

. Fig. 3 an end view looking in the direc tion of the arrow 3 of Fig. 1 andwith; part of the-construction broken away and-in section;

Fig. 4a o F 'g- 'Fig, 5' a partial-section on the line 5-5 *ofFigl; 5 1 t Fig-'6a'plan-viewof'the cylinder liner partial section on the line larged scale; a r

Fig. 7 a view looking in-the direction of the'arrow 7' of Fig. 6;

L Fig. 8 a view similar-to Figs. 6 and '1 but showing a bottom plan view of the cyl- 'inder liner shown in Fig.3; iv

shownin 'FigQ-3 detached-and on an enof Fig. 6 on a reduced scale; and, Fig. 10 a vpartial section on the of Fig. 3 and on an enlarged scale.

F igf 9 a partial section on the ,line 9 9 In the drawing I have shown at at power or propeller shaft which passes.

through three cylinders 12, 13 and 14 spaced longitudinally of said shaft, and mounted in the cylinders are cylinder liners 15, 16 and 17 Secured to the shaft 11 within the separate cylinders, or the liners thereof, are rotors 18, 19 and 20, this construction being shown in detail in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. At one side of the cylinders12j and 14 are mounted intake manifolds 21 and 22, and at the opposite sides of saidcylinders are exhaust pipes 23 and 24. The cylinder 13 is provided with an intake manifold 25 on the side of the engine to which the exhaust pipes 23 and 24 0f the cylinders- 12 and 14 are secured and on the oppositeside of the cylinder 13 is an exhaust pipe 26. The

intake manifold 21' of the cylinder 12 is provided with a threaded extension 27 with which a steam'supply pipe isadapted to be connected. The exhaust pipe 23 of the cylinder 12 is connected withitheintake manifold 25 0f the cylinder'13as shown at 28, while the exhaust pipef26 of the cylineder 13 is connected with the intake manifold 22 of the cylinder 14, as shown at 29, while the exhaust 24 of the cylinder 14 passesout into the open, or is connected with a ,suitable tankwhich is not shown. v Mounted in .theintake manifolds 21, 25 and 22 are two-way valves 30,. 31 and 32 respectively, which are adapted to control the passage of steam into the separate cylinvders through intake ports or passages 33-134, i

35.36 and 3738 in thesepa-rate cylinders "12,13 and 14 and said intake manifolds.

The'st eam' passed into? and'through the separ'ate cylinders, as" hereinafter described,"is

discharged: through exhaust ,ports or pasi sages 39,40 and 41', and these discharges are controlled-by pivoted valve devioes 42 mount- "ed in the cylinder liners 15, '16 and 17.

The valves 30 and 32 are connected by an operating shaft 43 and the valve 31 which is ati the opposite side of the engine" is operated from the shaft 43 through a gear construction consisting of a large gear-'44 'rotatably mounted on an extension 45 atone side of the cylinder 13, and agear 46 on 1 the shaft '43 and a corresponding gear 47 on the shaft 48 of the valve 31. From the foregoing it will be seen that by rotating the shaft 43 to open or close the valves and 32, the shaft 48 of the valve 31 will be correspondingly rotated to open or close said valve, and while I have shown a specific meansof accomplishing the desired result, it willbe 'apparent'that I am not necessarily limited to this'means.

The cylinders 12, 13 and 14 are open at one side to permit of the connection of the cylinder liners with said'cylinders and the placement ofthe rotors within said liners, and

the openends of the cylinders are closed byv end plates 49 held in place by screws or bolts 50. 'The cylinder liners 15 and 16 are both of the same general form and construction but are of slightly different dimensions, and in Figs. 6 to" 9 inclusive, I have shown detail views of the cylinder liner 15, which consists of a ring or band of predetermined thickness; band is cut out or recessed as shown at 51 and 52 to form two-independent intake passages at one side edge portion of the liner, and also recessed or cut out to form a single exhaust passage 53 at the opposite side thereof, and the exhaust passage 53 is separated from the intake passages'51 and 52 by partition walls 54 and 55 respectively, as

clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 8.

The intake passage 51 is provided with three nozzles 56 of varying transverse widths due to the shape of the-passage 51, while the intake passage 52 is provided with two 'nozzles 57 of different transverse width.

The exhaust passage 53 is provided with two sets of ports divided by the valve 42, one of these sets consisting of three ports 58 and the other'of two ports 59, as clearly shown "two nozzles 56 and 57 respectively, and the exhaust 'passage 53 of said liner is also provided with four ports 5 859,' arranged in pairs. The reasonfor the variation in-construction of the liner 17 fromthe liners 15 and 16 isdue to the fact that the nozzles and ports 56'to 59 inclusive in the liner 17 are of such'dimensions as topermit-of the use of but two pairs of intake nozzles and two pairs of exhaust ports, and-it is also believed that this number will be sufli'cient to accomplish the desired result. 7

The separate rotors 18, 19 and 20 are provided in theperiphery or outer face thereof The outer face of this 7 the shaft 11.

with a plurality of approximately "circular apertures 60 which open outwardly through the periphery of said rotors to-form a plurality of pockets divided by intermediate webs 61, and these pockets increase in capacity .frointhe rotor 18 to the rotor 20 as will be seen on a consideration of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawing. It will also be noted that the intake passages 33-34, 3536, and 3738 increase in dimensions or capacity, as do also the exhaust passages 39, 40 and 41, and the nozzles and ports 56 to 59 inelusive, in the cylinder liners 15, 16 and 17.

- From the foregoing description the operation of my improved engine will be readily understood when taken'in connection with the accompanying drawing and the following' statement. The valves 30', 3-1 and 32 are shown in their open position in Figs 3, 4 and 5 so thatste'am may pas's through the intake ports or passages 33, 35 and 37 into the intake passages 51 of the separate cylinder liners 15, 16 and 17 through the nozzles 56 of said passages into the pockets 60 of the rotors 1 8, 19 and 20 to rotate said rotors and It will be noted on a' consideration of Figs. 3 and6to 9 inclusive that immediately after the steam in the passage 51 of the cylinder liners .15 has passed through the nozzles 56 into a predetermined number of the pockets 60 of the rotor 18,=the steam in said pockets willbe discharged therefrom into the passage 53 of -the cylinder liner 15 through the discharge ports-58, and this steam then passes out through thexexhaust 39 into the intake manifold 25 thus through the cylinder and cylinder liner 13 and 16 and rotor 19 out through the exhaust 40 in the samemanner as the passage of steam through the first namedcylinder, except that the steam is directed downwardlyinto the cylinder 13 instead of upwardly as in the cylinder 12 in order that the shaft 11 may be rotated in the samedi-rection. The steam from the exhaust 20-is then passed-into the ioo cylinder 14 and liner 17 and-rotor 20 thereof,

and out through the exhaust 40. in the same manner as the passage of the, steam through the cylinder 12, except that the steam is discharged into the pocket 60 ofthe rotor 20 through two intake nozzles insteadLof three,

and is Texhaustedthrough two exhaust ports. While I have stated. that the steam passed "into the pocketor pockets 60 of the various rotors is immediately discharged therefrom,

after the rotorhas made a fraction of-a revolution, or takes place between thezseparate intake nozzles-56 asis indicated in dotte d lines in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. It will also be it is apparent that thisrdischargetakes place apparent thatthe valve 42 will-operate to close the communication between the-separate portions of the exhaust passage 53in the separate cylinder liners 15,16 and 17 so that the exhausted steam from theseparate cylinders cannot pass into the pockets of the rotors through the exhaust ports 59 of said cylinder liners thus keeping the steam in constant and true circulation.

The above description relates to the forward driving of the engine. When it is desired to reverse the rotation of the shaft 11, and the rotors thereon, the valves 30, 31 and 32 are rotated by means of the shaft 43 and gears 44, 46 and 47 to place the intake ports or passages 34, 36 and 38 in communication with the ports of said valves so that the steam will pass into the intake passages 52 of the cylinder liners 15, 16 and 17 and into the pockets 60 of the separate rotors through the nozzles 57, and this steam is discharged from the separate exhaust passages 53 of said cylinder liners through the ports 59 thereof, and in this operation the valves 42 will operate to close the communication between the ports 58 and 59 of the passages 53 thus keeping the steam in a constant flow to propel the shaft 11 in a reversed direction. In Fig. 1 I have shown sleeves 62 and 63 mounted on the shaft 11' outwardly of the cylinders 12 and 14 which serve to take up the thrust and relieve the strain of the rotors on the walls of the cylinder liners and cover plates 49.

It will be apparent that while I have shown certain details of construction for carrying my invention into effect, that I am not necessarily limited to these details, and

, various changes in and modifications of the construction herein shown and described may be made, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I 1. An engine of the class described comprising a cylinder, a shaft passingthrough said cylinder, a cylinder liner for said cylinder, a rotor mounted in said cylinder liner and secured to said shaft, a plurality of intake passages in sald cylinder liner, an exhaust passage in said cylinder liner, said intake and exhaust passages being provided with ports, a plurality of independent pockets in said rotor and adapted to communicate with said ports, independent intake ports in said cylinder and communicating with the intake passages of said cylinder liner, a valve device for controlling said intake ports, and an exhaust port in said cylinder and in, communication with the 1 exhaust passage of said cylinder liner.

2. An engine of the class described comprising. a cylinder, a shaft passing through said cylinder, a cylinder liner for said cylinder, a rotor mounted in said cylinder liner and'secured to said shaft, a plurality of independent intake passages in said cylinder liner, an exhaust passage in said cylinder liner, said intake and exhaust passages being provided with a plurality of independent- .pockets, means for supplying steam to the cylinder, an annular cylinderv liner independent of and mounted in said cylinder and provided with ports for discharging steam into the pockets of said rotor at a plurality of points about the periphery thereof, andother ports in said liner in juxtaposition to.

and at one side of said first named ports for exhausting the steam from said pockets, said parts being divided by a partition wall.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing a's' my invention I have signed my name in presence of thersubscribing witnesses this 6th day of November, 1919. Y

' WILLIAM H. BELKN'AP. Witnesses:

H. E. THoMrsoN, O. E. MULREANY. 

